The Running Thread (formerly How fast can you run a 5k?)

[09bballer]

I managed 15km this morning but I was out at 7am start 

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

Decent 18km this morning, started at about 4:45am and it was tidy but by the time I was done you could tell it was getting closer

 

Will try for the same tomorrow, gagging to get some distance in after a bit of a drop off with the heat 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

25 degrees at the start of parkrun this morning. We are so cooked.

[deejdeej]

You know its hot when you look forward to the hill at Brauny park run as its in the shade 

[Osavo]

10km this morning and was glad when it was over. Didn't get out until 10ish, which was my fault for being lazy, but the heat was cooking me by the end. 

[Ian W LCFC]

Did a 5k at 9.30am. Tried to seek out as much shade as I could and it was just about okay. Gonna try and go out a bit earlier than that from now on

[VLC86]

Think I’m back into this now. Did 8 miles on Sunday which felt pretty comfortable other than being noticeably dehydrated about 5 miles in and done 5k intervals on the treadmill today.

 

Ive somehow managed to pay little attention to when I’m doing the great north run and it’s in 2 months so probably a good job I’m back at it. Also wanting to hit 1000 miles for the year so I need to start bashing out some missions at some point.

 

I didn’t get a ballot spot for London which is pretty annoying but it likely means I won’t do a marathon next year now.

[Officer Doofy]

Running in the woods over the last few weeks has been Susan Perb I must say

[Ian W LCFC]

Getting back into the swing of things after doing pretty much nothing over the last 2 months or so.

5k last Saturday

5.5k on Monday

6.5k this morning.

 

Going to try and keep up with my running every other day pattern, slightly increasing the distance each time until I get to 10k whilst keeping the pace pretty consistently at about 6 mins per km or just under. 

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

Anyone of you madlads / madladettes here ever done a Backyard Ultra before?

[David Guiza II]

1 hour ago, Miquel The Work Geordie said:

Anyone of you madlads / madladettes here ever done a Backyard Ultra before?

Not personally, but a few people in my club have done them. I think I'd weirdly prefer it to a standard ultra (having done neither) 

[Claudio Fannieri]

Away in Majorca on holiday and just run a 5km in 33 degree heat nearly bloody killed me 🥵

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

20 hours ago, David Guiza II said:

Not personally, but a few people in my club have done them. I think I'd weirdly prefer it to a standard ultra (having done neither) 

 

Yeah brother it looks interesting, a mate has signed me and him up for one in Notts in March – looks like a proper mental / strategy game more than anything!

[SecretPro]

Ran a 5K pb of 20:54 yesterday morning, hoping to break Sub-20 at the end of August at one parkrun or another and then keep some regular speed sessions/Fartleks in my weekly training in the run up to Leicester Half which I'm aiming for around 1:35 - 1:38 ish (current PB 1:43:30). That will be my season pretty much done, keep the mileage ticking off over autumn and winter and then Gloucester half in March. I've suffered on mileage in the last month or so due to heat which really hits hard being a type 1 diabetic.

Edited Thursday at 19:29 by SecretPro

[VLC86]

On 14/07/2026 at 22:32, VLC86 said:

Think I’m back into this now. Did 8 miles on Sunday which felt pretty comfortable other than being noticeably dehydrated about 5 miles in and done 5k intervals on the treadmill today.

 

Ive somehow managed to pay little attention to when I’m doing the great north run and it’s in 2 months so probably a good job I’m back at it. Also wanting to hit 1000 miles for the year so I need to start bashing out some missions at some point.

 

I didn’t get a ballot spot for London which is pretty annoying but it likely means I won’t do a marathon next year now.

Sod’s Law that the day I posted this I picked up a very stupid injury, hopefully won’t side line me for

too long.

 

I was doing chest press on a bench with dumbbells in the gym and I’d done a few arm exercises I wasn’t used to so was struggling. I dropped the 18kg weight on my chest and my bloody ribs are so sore 😂. Going to risk a run tomorrow but think it’s gunna be grim.

Edited Thursday at 20:15 by VLC86

[James_lcfc]

13 hours ago, SecretPro said:

Ran a 5K pb of 20:54 yesterday morning, hoping to break Sub-20 at the end of August at one parkrun or another and then keep some regular speed sessions/Fartleks in my weekly training in the run up to Leicester Half which I'm aiming for around 1:35 - 1:38 ish (current PB 1:43:30). That will be my season pretty much done, keep the mileage ticking off over autumn and winter and then Gloucester half in March. I've suffered on mileage in the last month or so due to heat which really hits hard being a type 1 diabetic.

Knocking a minute off in 6 weeks would be a proper achievement - Keep us updated!

[SecretPro]

4 hours ago, James_lcfc said:

Knocking a minute off in 6 weeks would be a proper achievement - Keep us updated!

I always run quicker at a Parkrun - I guess it's that chasing mentality, the same as I will always run a competitive 10K or Half Marathon quicker than running the same distance flat-out on my own, so I'm hoping that plus 5 more weeks of speed/interval/fartlek sessions I'll be able to manage it.  

[James_lcfc]

34 minutes ago, SecretPro said:

I always run quicker at a Parkrun - I guess it's that chasing mentality, the same as I will always run a competitive 10K or Half Marathon quicker than running the same distance flat-out on my own, so I'm hoping that plus 5 more weeks of speed/interval/fartlek sessions I'll be able to manage it.  

Oh right, sorry - Yeah if you're running that solo in training you're probably pretty close to sub-20 now!

 

5k race pace is very hard in a normal week to be fair...I would struggle to hit it in reps over a 1km usually.

[fox_up_north]

Anyone got any experience of a triathlon or duathlon?

 

Essentially- do I have to lob money at a decent bike for it or will anything with wheels do?

[SecretPro]

1 hour ago, fox_up_north said:

Anyone got any experience of a triathlon or duathlon?

 

Essentially- do I have to lob money at a decent bike for it or will anything with wheels do?

If you want fast times/be competitive then you'll have to lob money at a bike. If you're doing it just for fun, a decent second hand road bike or a discounted new bike for the £700-1000 mark is probably plenty.

[VLC86]

5 hours ago, fox_up_north said:

Anyone got any experience of a triathlon or duathlon?

 

Essentially- do I have to lob money at a decent bike for it or will anything with wheels do?

I’ve not, but to answer your question I definitely wouldn’t use any bike. You probably don’t mean this, but if you did it on a mountain bike you will suffer. I did a charity ride of 50 odd miles years ago and granted I wasn’t very fit then but it was a massive struggle.

 

I’m sure a reasonable road bike would be decent enough depending on what your aims are.

[SecretPro]

53 minutes ago, VLC86 said:

I’ve not, but to answer your question I definitely wouldn’t use any bike. You probably don’t mean this, but if you did it on a mountain bike you will suffer. I did a charity ride of 50 odd miles years ago and granted I wasn’t very fit then but it was a massive struggle.

 

I’m sure a reasonable road bike would be decent enough depending on what your aims are.

Oh 100% - if you entered a triathlon on a mountain bike you'd be left in the dust within seconds. A road bike is a necessity, in 2026 a full Carbon Fibre road bike is probably a necessity. 

 

I used to race road bikes but never done a triathlon. The keys to road bike racing is weight. The lightest bike is the fastest bike, steel and aluminium are basically extinct now in the racing world. Back when I raced you had to spend a literal shed load for a Carbon bike but that's not necessarily the case now. Key thing is you need a light road bike - anything else is suicide, even if you're doing it for fun rather than times, you would be sucking every ounce of joy out of it trying to do it on anything other than a proper road bike, it would be such a hard, hard slog. 

[VLC86]

On 15/07/2026 at 12:08, Miquel The Work Geordie said:

Anyone of you madlads / madladettes here ever done a Backyard Ultra before?

No but I’ve been tempted in the past. Just watching Hardest Geezers video on his and it does fill me with dread how little break he’s getting, plus the monotony.

[Les-TA-Jon]

11K this morning (my biggest ever distance) and took 4 mins off my 10K PB! 
 

As someone who was totally inactive and started Couch to 5K in March 2025 I’m pleased with myself! 

[deejdeej]

Every running day lately goes something along the lines of "much cooler today, nice day for a run". Followed 20 minutes later by "****ing hell its hot"